Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 262: The Pass Of Time
Ten Years Later…
Remus Lupin was at his desk, finishing the revision of the last tests of the year.
"Sigh… it's finally over." He leaned back on his chair and relaxed for a bit.
"I don't know how James has been doing this for a decade already…" For Remus, it's only been two years since he became a professor.
After graduating, he spent some time earning his title as Rune Master in Germany.
Normally, registered werewolves were not allowed to travel abroad, but thanks to James's last iteration of the wolfsbane potion, and how accessible he made it for the masses, some of those laws had been rewritten.
Because of this, he was able to pursue his passion instead of having to settle for a different subject.
This was just one more thing that Remus would never be able to repay James for.
He was starting to reminisce about the past when someone knocked on the door.
"Yes?"
"Professor Lupin. There is a letter for you before the door."
"Mmm?" Remus recognized the voice. This was one of his students. "Miss Blake? Would you mind passing it under the door?" He figured that the poor owl must have waited for him to open the door, and eventually gave up, leaving it there.
He had been extremely focused on the evaluations.
A moment later, a small letter appeared on his office floor. "Thank you." Remus stood up from his chair and went to pick it up.
"Oh… finally!" A smile appeared on his face when he realized who this letter was from. "Sirius is coming back! I need to go tell the others."
Their friend Sirius was now a fully fledged Curse Breaker and was working for Gringotts as a freelancer.
His last mission had been apparently very difficult, and they hadn't received any communication from him in almost a year.
"Honestly… he got me worried this time." If it hadn't been for James's reassurances that Sirius was not in danger, he and Peter would have gone to find him.
Remus grabbed his things and left his office.
They were in their final week of school at Hogwarts, and classes were over for the most part, so students were now crowding the halls.
"Excuse me." Remus had to move aside some of them to pass by. There was a very long distance from his office, which was on the sixth floor, to James', which was deep in the dungeons.
"Sorry, Professor." One student apologized and moved out of the way.
"Professor Lupin, hi!" Another one greeted him with a smile.
Despite being fairly new, Remus had become a very popular educator among the student body.
However, much to his dismay, his popularity was not just because of his teaching skills.
"Professor Lupin…" A senior female student got in front of him. She was holding a piece of parchment in her hand. "This is for you, Professor…" The girl handed him the note with a blush on her face.
Remus wanted to roll his eyes. This must have been the fifteenth love letter he had received this year.
'At least they are usually from senior students…' He was, of course, not interested in the advances of Hogwarts's female population, but didn't want to look rude, so he nodded, took the note, and thanked the girl, promising her to read it later.
Eventually, he was able to reach the dungeons and made his way directly to James's office while passing a few Slytherin students in the meantime.
It was a year before Remus joined the teaching staff at Hogwarts that Professor Slughorn finally decided to retire, thus leaving a spot for the position of Potions Professor, which James promptly took, as it was the subject that he had the most passion for.
Thus, he moved his office and laboratory to the dungeons.
Remus knocked on the door of James's office and waited for an answer.
"I shouldn't be too surprised…" He said to himself after seeing no response. "The laboratory it is." This was where James spent most of his free time in school.
"At least it's close by." Remus turned to his right and continued walking further into the dungeons until he reached a large door at the end of a long corridor.
Remus glanced at the dozens of warning signs spread across the walls and became somewhat uneasy.
This area was off-limits for students, and anyone caught in here would be given detention for months.
This was for their own safety, as there had been a few incidents in the past that involved toxic fumes and/or explosions.
"Okay… let's go…" He gently knocked on the door.
There was no immediate response, but Remus could hear noises coming from inside, so he was fairly sure that James was in there.
After waiting for a bit, he knocked again. "James, it's me… Remus."
He finally heard the sounds of steps approaching the door, and a moment later, the door opened up.
"Remus?... what is it?" James poked his head out.
"James, it's…" Remus froze when he saw James. "What happened to you?!"
"Mmmm?... what do you mean?" James tilted his head in confusion.
"Your hair! It's blue!" Remus exclaimed. His friend usually had unkempt hair, but this was too much.
"Oh…" James acted like he had just noticed it. "You're right, it's blue. It must have been the fumes caused by burning the calipy feather… or maybe it was…" He began to mutter softly, and Remus could no longer hear what he was saying.
"Anyway…" Remus cleared his throat. "I came to tell you that I received a message from Sirius." He took the note from his pocket and handed it to James.
"Let me see…" James opened it up and read its contents. "This sounds like a love letter."
"Ah!" Remus realized he had given James the wrong piece of parchment.
"What have you two been doing lately?..." James gave him a suspicious look.
"It's not that one! Here!" He now gave James the correct one.
"I see, so he is finally done exploring that cave in Central America." James nodded before turning his attention to his friend. "I'm assuming that you want the four of us to get together."
"Of course! I'm sure Peter will be thrilled. I know how lonely he gets sometimes." Remus and James spent most of the year at Hogwarts, and with Sirius traveling so much, Peter doesn't get to see them often.
"Alright… I suppose I could postpone my project for a bit," said James. "Let me contact Sirius and Peter. Where should we meet?"
"We have to wait for the students to leave, so… what about next week at Hogsmeade?" Remus proposed.